Middleboro declared critical for Eastern equine encephalitis

Friday

Sep 20, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 20, 2013 at 8:19 PM

Middleboro has been declared at critical risk levels for Eastern equine encephalitis following the death of a horse from the mosquito-borne disease. It is the first community in eastern Massachusetts to reach that stage and the death of the horse was the first sign that EEE was present.

Alice Elwell

Middleboro has been declared at critical risk levels for Eastern equine encephalitis following the death of a horse from the mosquito-borne disease.

It is the first community in eastern Massachusetts to reach that stage and the death of the horse was the first sign that EEE was present.

So far EEE has only reached critical levels in western Massachusetts and surfacing this late in the season poses a significant risk because Plymouth County Mosquito Control is not spraying. The majority of Plymouth, Bristol and Norfolk counties are at a moderate risk level for EEE.

Plymouth County Mosquito Control Superintendent Anthony Texeira said mosquitoes aren’t flying now that temperatures are cool in the evenings and mornings, so neither ground spray or aerial spray would be effective. The pesticide Texeira uses is applied when mosquitoes are active at dusk and dawn. “If there’s nothing flying you won’t kill them,” he said.

“This is that time of the year we don’t have anything left in our tool box to go after them,” Texeira said. But he cautions, “It doesn’t mean there isn’t any dangerous mosquitoes out there."

“The good news there’s fewer mosquitoes,” Texeira said. But those mosquitoes could be deadly. He fears because there are fewer mosquitoes people might drop their guard and forget to use repellent. Texeira said most of the mosquitoes that are flying in Middleboro could be carrying EEE.

Middleboro Health Officer Jeanne C. Spalding is advising all outside events to be rescheduled to end before the increased mosquito risk time of dusk to dawn.

Texeira cautions that mosquitoes can still be flying during the day and people should use repellent whenever they are outside.